South Pasadena City Council bans single-use plastic bags

ABOVE: A man carries goods in plastic bags as he shops at the South Pasadena Farmers’ Market on Thursday. Farmers market and retailers such as Ralphs, Trader Joe’s and Vons will be affected by a plastic bag ban, which the city approved Wednesday. BELOW LEFT: Carrying her 4-month-old son Calder, Stephanie Bonjack of Pasadena shops with a plastic bag. BELOW RIGHT: Damaris Koenig of Altadena, who left her reusable bags at home, shops with her 4-year-old daughter Berlin.
Sarah Reingewirtz — Staff photographer

SOUTH PASADENA >> The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Wednesday that will prohibit grocery stores, farmers markets and some retail shops from using single-use plastic bags.

Elizabeth Emirhanian, spokeswoman for Women Involved in South Pasadena Political Action, was supportive of the ban.

“We understand the potential downsides but feel that reducing the number of bags in the waste stream and in storm drains is of vital importance,” she said. “We are a small city, so getting word out and encouraging residents to reuse cloth or even paper bags would not be as big a problem as it would be in larger cities.”

The ordinance will come into effect June 6. South Pasadena will spend four months in an education and outreach process that will include coordinating with affected stores; creating informational packets; providing free, reusable bags; and providing information on the city website and its social media accounts.

Plastic bags without handles such as those used for fruits, vegetables and meat will still be available and free.

Out of 10 letters and emails to the City Council, five supported the bag ban, two disputed the City Council’s method of trying to pass the ordinance and three opposed the proposed regulation, according to city records provided a day after the ordinance passed.

Resident Dora Lee has lived in Pasadena for 37 years, yet she never wrote to the City Council until now.

“We’ve stopped shopping in Pasadena because of their ban on plastic bags,” she wrote in an email. “I would rather go out of my way to shop at the Alhambra Target than shop at Pasadena Target because they don’t provide bags. Yes, we can carry our own bags, but we often buy over $80 of groceries at either South Pas Pavilions or Vons. That’s a lot of canvas bags to bring, and they get so dirty.”

Sandra Kay Lee wrote in an email that if the ban goes into effect, she would be “forced to boycott all grocery shopping here in South Pasadena and shop in Alhambra instead.” She also threatened to spread the word so others would avoid shopping in South Pasadena.

Resident Roland Rozen objected to “a sanctimonious, condescending and rather dictatorial attitude” the City Council used in the name of environmental concern.

At the City Council meeting Wednesday night, Mayor Marina Khubesrian said there isn’t a perfect answer for the single-use plastic bag problem but said she is responsible for thinking how her decisions today will affect South Pasadena residents in 20 years.

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About 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year and plastic bag usage consumes at least 12 million barrels of oil each year, Khubesrian said.

“This year the Los Angeles ban on plastic bags is almost a year old,” he said. “The amount of trash picked up this year ­— for the first time there was an 80 percent reduction, mostly in plastic bags.”

Cities such as Pasadena, Glendale, Calabasas, Long Beach and Culver City have also implemented similar plastic bag bans, according to a staff report.

Once the new ordinance is operational, affected retailers and grocery stores will charge 10 cents for single-use paper carryout bags.